Translate blog

Saturday, December 10, 2011

New! CBS poll shows bad news for Obama

Grim economic outlook weighs down Obama approval rating

Just 41 percent of Americans think Mr. Obama has performed his job well enough to be elected to a second term, whereas 54 percent don't think so.

The president's overall approval rating remains in the mid-40's, according to a CBS News poll - lower than the approval ratings of Mr. Obama's four presidential predecessors at this point in their first terms.

Mr. Obama's approval rating is dragged down by his poor marks for his handling of the economy - which, at 33 percent, is the lowest rating of his presidency in CBS News polls.
Forty-four percent of Americans approve of the job Mr. Obama is doing as president, and about as many - 46 percent - disapprove.

Views of how he has handled the economy is the obvious drag on the president's ratings:

While just 33 percent approve, 60 percent disapprove. Similarly, just 35 percent approve his his handling of job creation while 58 percent disapprove.
Additionally, most Americans do not think the president's priorities for the country are in line with theirs. Fifty-four percent say Mr. Obama doesn't share their priorities, while 41 percent think he does. This is the public's most negative assessment on this question since Mr. Obama assumed office. Again, the public divides along partisan lines: 73 percent of Democrats say he shares their priorities, while 79 percent of Republicans say he does not.

Americans also remain skeptical of one of the major legislative achievements of Mr. Obama's first term as president -- the 2010 health care reform law. Fifty-one percent of Americans disapprove of the law, including a third who strongly disapprove, while just 35 percent approve either somewhat or strongly.

More Americans have disapproved than approved of the law since it was passed in March 2010.
Half of all Americans think Mr. Obama should have focused his priorities elsewhere during his first term in office, though 43 percent think he did the right thing in trying to reform the health care system.(Full story and poll here at CBS News)